A Swedish woman who served as a nurse during the Korean War has contributed part of her donation to the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.The gift comes in gratitude to the Korean government, which has sent her thank-you letters for her service during the 1950-53 conflict. Kerstin Jonasson, 88, and her Rune Jonasson, 85, have asked the KTH to contribute part of their 11.8 billion won ($10 million) donation to a student exchange

TOKYO (AFP) ― The Japanese government on Monday offered its condolences on the death of Kim Jong-il, the leader of North Korea, a country with which Japan has no diplomatic relations.“We express our condolences upon receiving the announcement of the sudden passing of Kim Jong-il, the chairman of the National Defense Committee of North Korea,” Japan’s top government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said.“The Japanese government hopes that this unexpected development would not bring any adverse impact on

Seoul’s southern district of Gangnam will hold a series of medical tourism events in China this week to promote its clinics to Chinese customers. The Gangnam medical tourism convention will take place in Shanghai from Dec. 20-22 and in Hangzhou from Dec. 22-24, the district office said Monday. “Chinese visitors are the biggest customers for medical tourism. We hope the medical convention will invite more Chinese people to Gangnam for medical services,” said Gangnam Mayor Shin Yeong-hee.More than

The number of foreign nationals in Korea hit an all-time high this year, making up 3 percent of the country’s total population. According to statistics from the Justice Ministry on Friday, 1.41 million foreign nationals were present in the nation as of September this year, with Chinese taking the lion’s share.“The increase has to do with the economic recovery since last year to first half of this year,” said Gwak Jae-seok, director of the Migration and Diaspora Research Institute.About 600,000 o

Jeong Kap-young, an economics professor at Yonsei University, has been appointed president of the university, the school said Thursday. The school board appointed Jeong as the 17th president after he received 86.6 percent of the vote from faculty members during the three-day meeting of professors that kicked off Nov. 28.Jeong was one of five presidential candidates selected early last month through interviews and a career examination by criteria such as research ethics and financial status.  “I

Seoul’s greenhouse gas emissions will peak in 2020 but are expected to fall from 2030, a report showed Wednesday. The city’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen over the past 20 years from about 44 million tons a year in 1990 to an estimated 51 million tons in 2010, according the report by the Seoul Development Institute. In 2020 emissions are expected to reach about 54 million tons, then fall from 2030 as the city population decreases and energy efficiency improves. Energy consumption takes up

A document sent by the Education Ministry to local education offices encouraging them to promote the Korea-U.S. FTA in local schools has met a backlash from a progressive teacher’s union and prompted regional education offices to review whether they should comply. The 16 offices nationwide received an official document from the ministry Friday, asking them to promote the Korea-U.S. FTA on the websites of the regional education offices and schools by installing pop-ups and banners, according to t

The design of a pair of residential towers to be built in Yongsan, Seoul has sparked international controversy by evoking the image of the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Families of 9/11 victims were among those outraged at the design evoking the exploding WTC, and criticized Dutch architecture firm MVRDV and the architect, Daniel Libeskind, according to the New York Daily News and New York Post. Scheduled to be completed in 2015, the towers are connected by a “pixilated cloud” whi

A Chinese student has been elected as the first president of a foreign student body at a Korean university in Seoul. The 25-year-old female student, He Yun from China, was elected president of the nation’s first foreign student council of Kyung Hee University, while 22-year-old male student Sunzhiwei from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in China was picked as vice president last Friday, according to the school. The two students, both undergraduates at the university, will represent about 1,

An aide to Grand National Party lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk, elder brother of President Lee Myung-bak, was arrested on Saturday on bribery charges. The aide, identified by his surname Park, is accused of accepting 700 million won in cash and an expensive luxury wristwatch from two local businessmen for illegal lobbying to save their troubled companies from closure. The Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant on Saturday and judge Kim Hwan-soo cited that “there is a concern that he might

The number of foreign teachers at high schools in Seoul is likely to drop due to government budget cuts for next year.The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it plans to cut about 4 billion won ($3.5 million) in personnel expenses for 225 foreign teachers at high schools in the 2012 budget, which has been reviewed by the council’s budget committee since Thursday. If it passes the plenary session of the city council next week, the number of foreign high school teachers will start decreasi

The number of foreign teachers at high schools in Seoul is likely to be reduced with the government’s budget cuts for next year. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it plans to cut about 40 billion won ($3.5 million) in personnel expenses for 225 foreign teachers at high schools in the 2012 budget, which has been reviewed in the council’s budget committee since Thursday. If it passes the plenary session of the city council next week, the number of foreign high school teachers will st

North London Collegiate School Jeju, the first international school to open in the Jeju Global Education City, will offer full scholarships to students from low-income families with outstanding academic performances. The scholarships will cover full tuition and boarding fees until graduation, school officials said Thursday. The NLCS also offered a campus tour and admission information session for prospective students and their families to learn about campus life and conditions for admission ahea

A 17-year-old boy who defected here from North Korea last year always wears his shoes indoors ― he never knows when he might have to run away. Still suffering from the psychological trauma of his escape from the North, the boy, whose name is being withheld for his safety, failed to adapt to his first school here, being treated as an outcast by his South Korean classmates. He recently transferred to another school in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, a city located near the border with North Korea.He is o

Migrant workers are flocking to the southeastern city of Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, looking for jobs at small and mid-sized firms. According to the city government, 16,053 foreigners reside there as of October, up 15 percent from last year. Migrant workers account for 90.3 percent, mostly from Southeast Asian countries. The rest are foreign spouses and students. The number of foreign residents in Gimhae has almost tripled since 2005, when just 5,779 foreigners lived there. The greatest n

Three English villages in Seoul ― the Pungnap, Suyu and Gwanak campuses ― will offer a variety of English camps to elementary and middle school students during the winter break, with different levels and purposes of English study. A total of 18 programs at three campuses will be available to 4,010 students from Dec. 23 to Feb. 4 next year, city officials said. Named “Smart up immersion camp,” the Pungnap campus program features some customized curricula in relation to subjects like math and scie

A governmental advisory committee suggested Friday that sex offenders should be prohibited from working for social welfare organizations and facilities. The proposal comes in the wake of high-profile sex crimes committed by teachers against disabled students at a special education institution from 2000 to 2005. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday that the special committee on strengthening the transparency of welfare institutions and human rights finalized recommendations to strengthe

Seoul has won the right to host about 100 major international events by 2018, thanks to its efforts to become one of the top convention cities in the world.City officials said Thursday that the international events would each draw more than 1,000 participants. They include the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine, to be held in 2015 with more than 8,000 participants.The fields of the events vary from medicine and mathematics to architecture. Among renowned world

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon has surprised many with his unconventional steps a month into his new job. He has broken with the strict and bureaucratic image of a mayor and gotten more personal and closer to ordinary citizens. Park invited a 39-year-old housewife with three kids to be the first one-day citizen mayor on Wednesday. Sitting on “the chair for citizens” in the mayor’s office, she received daily briefings on city affairs and spent the morning and afternoon with Park’s schedule. Experts sa

Korea University students have released a mobile application for multicultural education for children, the school said Monday.A student group named “Dawoolim,” which means harmony among a variety of people, made the application introducing the Japanese holiday Setsubun, a day before the start of spring on the Japanese lunar calendar.“We made the application so that children can learn about other cultures easily with smartphones. I hope they will feel closer to different cultures and be rid of pr